Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has denied claims that the state received a portion of the N570 billion hardship grant allegedly disbursed by the Federal Government to all 36 states.

The Governor clarified the situation following President Bola Tinubu’s announcement on Sunday, August 8, during a nationwide broadcast amidst the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protests against hunger and hardship in the country.

In his address, President Tinubu stated that the Federal Government had released N570 billion to state governments to support their citizens’ livelihoods and noted that 600,000 nano-businesses had already benefited from nano-grants, with an additional 400,000 businesses expected to benefit.

However, Governor Makinde, in a newsletter (No. 95 | August 2024) personally signed and shared on his X handle on Thursday, clarified that Oyo State did not receive any such funds. The Governor explained that the funds in question were part of the World Bank-assisted NG-CARES project, designed as a COVID-19 recovery intervention for states in Nigeria.

“The message was about a purported N570 billion Hardship Fund ‘given’ to the 36 States by the Federal Government. I was queried about what I used the money for. Let me state categorically that this is yet another case of misrepresentation of facts. The said funds were part of the World Bank-assisted NG-CARES project—a Programme for Results intervention,” Makinde said.

He further explained that the NG-CARES project required states to use their funds in advance to implement the program, which was later reimbursed by the World Bank after verification. The Federal Government acted only as a conduit for these reimbursements.

“The Federal Government did not give any State money. They were simply the conduit through which the reimbursements were made to States for money already spent,” Makinde emphasized.